The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-11-08
THE FIRST PRINCIPLES
The Subject of Sunday After
moons Discourse
BY ELDER JOHN NICHOLSON
Laying on of Hands for the Recep-
tion of the Holy Ghost.

| sunday afternoon was large one
quite number of tourists being among
those present, who retired when the ser
vices were about half over, in order to
take the train to continue their overland
| journey. The services were begun by
the choir and congregation singing the
hymn commencing:
Praise We the Lord my heart shall join
Prayer by Elder Charles w. Stayner.
fhe choir sang the hymn:
How great the wisdom and the love.
ELDER JOHN NICHOLSON, on arising,
acknowledged his personal imperfec
lions. but would endeavor to address the
congregation, and requested their faith
and prayers and attention. The Latter
day Saints, he said, were endeaVoring to
follow III the footsteps of Him whose
death and burial they were commemor-
ating by the Sacrament. They had
yielded obedience to the fundamental
principles of the gospel which Jesus
himself preached. They had responded
to the invitation to exercise faith; they
had accepted the plan designed by the
eternal council in the heavens for the
| salvation of mankind. There are two
| kinds of faith-a dead and living faith
| That which is dead is necessarily power
! less. There were those who lived in the
daS of James who thought men could
do nothing for their own redemption,
and that the Lord Jesus would do it for
them. Yet James said, SHOW me thy
faith without thy works, and [ will
show thee my faith by my works"
Faith, if it hath not works, is dead. 1"
What doth it profit, my brethren,
| though a man say he hath faith, and
have not works? Can faith save him
| If brother or sister be naked, and des-
tltute of daily food, and one of you say
unto them, Depart in peace. be warmed
and filed Notwithstanding We give not
those things which are needfuI to the
body; what doth it proht?" Elder
Nicholson related this concerning the
telling of hungry and destitute people to
be warm and be fed, and queried, How
much would it avail to say this to them
and do nothing toward feeding and
clothing them? In order to show that
Jesus is the leader. it was necessary to
show that the system he committed to
humanity was an organism. In Him
there was a perfect harmony between
His teachings and His actions. The
King of heaven, to whom all power had
been given, subjected himself to the or
dinapces of the gospel, and was baptized
of John, in order to fulfill all righteous
ness" Therefore, baptism was neces-
sary to complete righteousness. The
Lord so signified His pleasure at the
obedience yielded that He acknowledged
Jesus by saying: This is my beloved
son, in whom l am well pleased"
The speaker explained that it was the
act of obedience to correct law which
secured the remission of sin. He also
stated that baptism by immersion was
the proper mode, and supported his
statement by illustrations and quota
lions from the Scriptures, and ridiculed
the practices of sprlnklipg and pouring
in vogue in the world. He continued
by telling his hearers that it was incum-
bent upon those vino acknowledged the
Lord to be born of the Spirit as well as
OF the water, and urged the necessity of
the laying on Of hands for the gift of the
Holy Ghost, reclting the visit of Peter
and John to Samar'a, where tn y i'm
pressed upon the peoI lie the i'm portance
of Obtaining that gift, and laid
hands on the people accord
ingly. These were the first or
fundamental principles of the COS ,1el
He questioned if the Latter day Saints
were living in accordance with those
principles. Faith implied implicit trust
in God, through all the darkesg days as
in the brightest scenes of life. He re-
lated an anecdote concerning vessel
filed with water, on board of which
were boy and his mother. The boy
said: THE. ship is going down,
Well all be lost" His ma replied:
Have l not told you always to trust in
Providence ?" Yes" was his ansN er,
land l intend to trust in Him just as
soon as can get into that boat" point
ing TO one that was approaching the
sinking ship. He impressed upon his
hearers the efficacy of prayer, when Of
fered up to the Throne of Grace in faith.
He deplored the prac ice Of praying to
the congregation by those in public
places, instead OF to the Lord. He ad-
vocated sincerity aud the cultivation of
the spirit of faith. The letter of the
law should be observed. No man, no
matter how brilliant he may be, can
build up the kingdom of God, unless he
has the Spirit of God. How cultivate
the compromising of that spirit? he
asked. 1t should De invited by living in
harmony with it. 1t is the spirit OF
truth and brings truth to the mind of
the possessor. The hypocrite shuts it
out from his heart, because he is not
pure and honest. 1t was necessary to
be always in harmony with the broad
principles revealed from heaven. Itwas
enjoined upon all to do unto others as
they would have others do to them, 1T
was according to the eternal principles
of justice. All should be particular in
their intercourse with each other
MEN will be judged according to their
treatment of their fellows" W. must
apply the principles of the moral law to
our everyday lives. Justice is the right
of all, and it is proper that it should be
insisted upon. When no effort is put
forth to stay injustice, wrong is per
petrated If the Saints are possessed of
the Divine Spirit. he remarked, how
easy and pleasurable it would be to live
according to the principles of truth and
the revelations of God.
The work of the gospel, he testified, |